Thomas mentions he's just a couple of classes from graduating, and the report observes Thomas has started graduate school.  In an aside, Thomas notes "I've got two more years at Oregon."  Good to hear he's thinking that way.

He addresses paying college players, what he took from the National Championship Game. 

DT is very relaxed and congenial in the interview, smiling, cordial, and genuine.

Rahim Cassell
LB – 6‐0, 205, 4.50
Lakewood, Calif. (Lakewood HS)

The Ducks need help at linebacker, this season, right away.

Losing Kiko Alonso and Tyson Coleman to indefinite conduct-related suspensions has depleted the linebacker corps and left some holes in the rotation.  Duck fans naturally look down the bench to the young, promising recruiting class, and ask, can this kid be ready now?

Central Catholic defensive end Alex Balducci has verbally committed to Oregon, rivals.com announced today.  The 6-4, 270 lb. defensive end is the number two-rated recruit in the state.

A U.S. Army All-American who sported eight offers, incuding Washington, Boise State and Oregon State, Balducci is listed at 4.85 in the 40 with a 265-lb. bench press.  He has room to grow and get stronger.

The Ram senior visited Oregon last December during the Arizona game, an unofficial visit.

Balducci may be able to move inside to defensive tackle, although he plays outside at Central Catholic.  Rivals rates him a four-star prospect, 178th in the country.

Name: Tra Carson
Hometown: Texarkana, Texas
Position: Running back
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 225
High School: Liberty-Eylau

2010 statistics: 196 carries for 2,202 yards and 24 touchdowns

Here's the first thing you need to know about Tra Carson:  he went to Liberty-Eylau High School, and replaced LaMichael James as the starting tailback.

This morning Greg Poole, EC Dawg of the Leather Helmet Blog, took on the issue of stipends for scholarship athletes:

I listened to John Kincade on ESPN during my morning walk. One of Mr. Kincade's discussion topics for the day was paying a stipend to college athletes. Kincade and his guest, Coach Jay Paterno of Penn State, termed the issue "paying players" and both were very much against the idea.

The facts are that players are already being paid. The scholarship and other benefits that players receive in exchange for their efforts are payments - by definition. The question is not whether players should be paid but how much and should part of their compensation be in the form of cash.

Devon Blackmon

Height: 6'0"
Weight: 180 lbs.
40 Time: 4.41
High School: Summit H.S.
College: Oregon
Hometown: Fontana, CA

This is how rare a talent Devon Blackmon is: he lettered as a high school freshman.  He played in the 2011 Under-Armour All-American game, and against the best high school players in the country on national TV he caught a 58-yard touchdown pass, from Brett Hundley of UCLA.  Devon has never met a list he didn't make: 35th on the Rivals 100, 23rd on on the ESPN 150, 32nd in the nation on 247Sports.  If he had gone in the studio and cut an album he'd probably make the Top 40 on the Billboard Chart. 

It's a scene as American as well, America.  Norman Rockwell immortalized it in a 1954 painting, "Breaking Home Ties."  A young man packs his suitcase and loads up his second-hand car or gets on the bus or the plane and heads out for school.  His mother can't keep the tears out of her eyes, her heart filled with pride and sorrow and uncertainty.  Her baby boy, a hundred or a thousand or two thousand miles away.  The old man waits on the porch or the fender, not saying much, wistful, proud, a little broken deep within knowing his son is going into a world that he never experienced, that the bond between them, while strong, will be shaken by time and experience.  He knows that he doesn't have the words or the wisdom for a time like this, so he waits for the mother to finish her tearful goodbyes and start up the rig.  The boy wouldn't listen right now anyway.  He's too brimming with hope and wonder, with the sense of himself almost being a man on his own.

This week, 22 mothers will say good-bye to their sons, entrusting them to our care as a community.  The members of the 2011 Oregon recruiting class are about to officially become Ducks, committing themselves to a five-year adventure, the opportunity to test themselves against the best college athletes in the world, in the most difficult and violent game in the world.  They'll face temptations, challenges and setbacks.  They'll grow.  They'll hurt.  They'll fail.  They'll achieve unbelievable things and receive accolades and notoriety.  For many of them, their families will be long distant and almost unreachable, and the ache they feel for the comforts of home will surprise them.  In other moments they'll not be able to stretch their eyes or their heart wide enough for what they are about to be a part of.

They are now Ducks.  They are ours, as we come to know them and witness their accomplishments and struggles, we have a moral obligation to consider that they all came from somewhere and belong to somebody, and in the moments they fail as athletes we must never forget that.

Over the next few days we'll be compiling profiles of each of the new players, and as the profiles expand each picture and name will link to their individual story.  Here are the 2011 Ducks, the new recruiting class that reports to campus this week: (from goducks.com)

HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITS
Devon Blackmon, WR/6-1/177/4.40 – Fontana, CA (Fontana HS) UA All-American
Tra Carson, RB/6-0/227/4.60 – Texarkana, TX (Liberty-Eylau HS)
Rahim Cassell, LB/6-0/205/4.50 – Lakewood, CA (Lakewood HS)
Tyson Coleman, LB/6-1/203/4.63 – Lake Oswego, OR (Lake Oswego HS)
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, CB/5-10/182/4.50 – Chino Hills, CA (Chino Hills HS)
James Euscher, OL/6-7/275 – Beaverton, OR (Aloha HS)
Jake Fisher, OL/6-6/270/4.95 –Traverse City, MI (Traverse City West HS)
Christian French, TE/6-5/236/4.50 – Cedar Rapids, IA (John F. Kennedy HS) U.S. Army All-American
Carlyle Garrick, LB/6-2/204 – Castro Valley, CA (Castro Valley HS)
Rodney Hardrick, LB/6-1/225/4.53 – Colton, CA (Colton HS)
Tyler Johnstone, OL/6-6/250/4.93 – Chandler, AZ (Hamilton HS) U.S. Army All-American
Lake Koa-Ka’ai, DL/6-4/245/4.80 – Honolulu, HI (Kamehameha Schools Kapalama HS)
Sam Kamp, DL/6-4/247/4.82 – Mesa, AZ (Mountain View HS)
B.J. Kelley, WR/6-2/175/4.43 – Fresno, CA (Central HS)
Colt Lyerla, WR/6-5/225/4.56 – Hillsboro, OR (Hillsboro HS) U.S. Army All-American
Marcus Mariota, QB/6-4/194/4.48 – Honolulu, HI (St. Louis HS)
Jamal Prater, OL/6-4/290 – Etiwanda, CA (Etiwanda HS)
Tacoi Sumler, WR/5-9/166/4.24 – Miami, FL (Christopher Columbus HS) UA All-American
De’Anthony Thomas, ATH/5-9/160/4.41 – Los Angeles, CA (Crenshaw HS) U.S. Army All-American
Anthony Wallace, LB/6-0/221/4.55 – Dallas, TX (Skyline HS) UA All-American
Andre Yruretagoyena, OL/6-5/260/4.94 – Scottsdale, AZ (Chaparral HS) UA All-American

JUNIOR COLLEGE RECRUITS
Jared Ebert, DL/6-5/285/4.80 – Iowa City, IA (Iowa Western Community College)
Rahsaan Vaughn, WR/6-2/192/4.37 – Fremont, CA (College of San Mateo)

Jared Afalava is a 6-2, 220-lb. aggressive, hard-hitting outside linebacker from football hotbed Bingham High of South Jordan, Utah, the 13-0 5A  State Champions.  He was 1st team All-State and junior MVP last season, recording 87 tackles, 5 interceptions and one sack.

Jared has the size and agility to play very early as a collegian.

He's an explosive hitter who drives through ball carriers and sends them backwards, playing with a nasty edge and tremendous pursuit and instincts.  In the highlight video, note his athletic ability carrying the ball after an interception at 2:10, how he ranges into the hook zone and snares the ball out of the air.